Alan O’Hare – Page 2 – Engaging Peace

A living tapestry of peace and reconciliation (Part 1)

Posted on October 4, 2012October 3, 2012 by kathiemm

by guest author Alan O’Hare, A Seanchie (Celtic storyteller)

In this post, I invite you to “see the voices” of renowned peace activists, less well known proponents of peace and reconciliation, and all the human beings who have suffered from the wars and conflicts pervading our world.

El Salvador mural with Archbishop Romero. Photo by Alison McKellar, used under CC Attribution Generic 2.0 license.

Think of their stories as part of a tapestry of peace, a tapestry that could be displayed in a meditative gathering in which we can envision Gandhi, Aung San Suu Kyi, Thich Nhat Hanh, and Nelson Mandela, our brothers and sisters in our own journey towards peace.

As we create this tapestry, allow these images to be your guides:

Leonard Bernstein conducting Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony in Berlin at the 1989 Fall of the Wall
Aung San Suu Kyi being released to the loving embrace of the people of Myanmar after many years of unjust house arrest
The life and courage of Archbishop Romero being celebrated in El Salvador Cathedral where he was assassinated in 1980
A circle of victims and perpetrators from the 1994 Rwanda genocide sitting on the grass (gacaca) listening to confessions and seeking reconciliation

Recall Gandhi as he sat spinning threads of harmony, independence, and resistance that rippled across the nation of India. Even now we can see the echoes of his voice of peace, a voice that became a rolling thunder continuing to resonate throughout the world today.

Recalling Gandhi should be more than just imagining him; it should be truly seeing him through all those millions of people whose lives have been affected in the search for peace and reconciliation. See him and appreciate more fully the voices that carry on his mission, and the art, music, movement, and fragrance hidden in the beauty and power in each of their words.

Alan O’Hare, LifeStoryTheatre.org

We resolve to do more

Posted on October 27, 2011October 26, 2011 by kathiemm

Monday, October 24, 2011, was United Nations Day.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. Image used under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.

“UN Day is a day on which we resolve to do more. More to protect those caught up in armed conflict, to fight climate change and avert nuclear catastrophe; more to expand opportunities for women and girls, and to combat injustice and impunity; more to meet the Millennium Development Goals.”

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
Message on UN Day, 24 October 2011

The Millennium Development Goals established in 2010 with an achievement goal of 2015, are: 1) end poverty and hunger; 2) achieve universal education; 3) promote gender equality and empower woman; 4) reduce child mortality; 5) improve maternal health; 6) combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases; 7) ensure environmental sustainability, and 8) develop a global partnership for economic development.

None of these goals have been achieved yet in the United States. In what ways has involvement in wars interfered with achieving those basic goals in this relatively rich nation? In what ways is it in the interest of Americans to work towards these goals, not just at home but around the world?

As always, the question is, how can one individual make a difference? In an earlier post, Alan O’Hare discussed the importance of sharing stories. In response to the fact that the world population is about to reach 7 billion, the UN Population Fund has undertaken an initiative called 7 Billion Actions, gathering the stories of individuals and organizations around the world striving to make a positive difference in the world.

And for a wonderful fictional film on one individual fighting to make a difference, watch this excerpt from the film “The Girl in the Café”:

Storytelling and the path to peace

Posted on August 25, 2011August 25, 2011 by kathiemm

[Note from Kathie Malley-Morrison: Today we welcome guest author Alan O’Hare, who reflects on the role of stories in building community and peace. Alan is a storyteller, psychologist, and university educator.]

On the journey in search of peace and non-violence, we meet many guides. At the heart of each encounter is a story expressed through rich and colorful language.

Listening to each others’ stories provides an opportunity to gain new information, insight, and skills to build peace together. Keys to that dialogue can include:

Moving beyond prejudices, attitudes, or values that create barriers to hearing the other person’s story
Learning what has led the other to this place, thus discovering a way to address each person’s differences
Engaging with each other in a way that can promote peace within ourselves and between us.

Psychologists and other mental health professionals bring an invaluable gift to this dialogue–the ability and experience needed to listen, honor, and create connections among stories to build a sense of community.

Over the past several years, I have been fortunate to be in dialogue with many people whose lives are reflections of this perspective, and to co-create with them multi-arts performances that celebrate their life stories. The path that led me to this work began as a community psychologist and has gradually evolved back to my ancestral Celtic roots as a seanchie, a weaver and itinerant storyteller.

It was the seanchie who roamed among the villages of the Irish countryside 2500 years ago, gathering the threads of people’s stories and weaving them into a tapestry celebrating their lives.

This heritage is mirrored throughout the world in our diverse cultural roots. We are all inheritors of these traditions, and we are all called to express and witness stories of peace throughout the world. Please send us YOUR story.

Alan O’Hare, founder and artistic director of Life Story Theatre, can be reached at bridges95@aol.com

[An earlier version of this paper was presented at the Psychologists for Social Responsibility conference in the summer of 2010, and published in the journal Peace Psychology.]